I had planned to go to Armthorpe Welfare on Friday night to see a match but the rain beat me with the game being postponed.
Looking at what else was on at the weekend I was lucky to find a Saturday night FA Cup game between Chesterfield and Doncaster Rovers. Intriguing in that Doncaster are from one division above Chesterfield but this may have been rubbed out by Chesterfield’s home advantage. With only 30 miles between them it could almost be called a local derby. Rovers had brought a noisy crowd of just over 1700 and had taken over the North Stand. This was a good percentage of the overall attendance of 6176
I like coming to this stadium where this modern four covered stand layout gives a clear view from where ever you sit. I had chosen the West stand which I had never sat in before.
The roads and paths were still wet from the days rain but the dry night of 8 degrees felt pleasant as I walked up to the ground.
Doncaster Rovers and Chesterfield have a long history of games between each other maily in the lower divisions.
Chesterfield 1 Doncaster Rovers 2
Saturday 6th December 2025 kick off 19.30 pm
FA Cup 2nd round proper
EFL Division 2 v EFL Division 1
Spireites v Rovers
Chesterfield; Royal Blue shirts, white shorts, goalkeeper in all green with a pink stripe down the sides of the shirts and shorts.
Doncaster; Red shirts with white horizontal white stripes on the front and one stripe at the base of the back, goalkeeper in all bright lime green.
The teams were welcomed onto the pitch to the sound of Mr Blue Sky and they soon locked horns in a fast, furious and sometimes physical encounter.
Chesterfield playing long balls to the wings for attackers to run onto and Doncadter playing a more measured passing game.
Chesterfield managed some sustained pressure with two corners in a row on the half hour, and when the second was lobbed back into the penalty area the rebound came to Lee Bonis who buried it into the net.
The home sides jubilation didn’t last long when only three minutes later Doncaster were level. Owen Bailey, unopposed, headed into the centre of the net following a pin point cross from the right wing.
The two teams resumed their dual in the same way until half time.
Doncaster made a substitution to start the second half and upped their tempo.
It became much harder for the home side when on the hour John Fleck was given a straight red card for what looked like a studs up tackle. This infuriated the home fans who had not been happy with the referees inconsistency. Bonis must have had a heavy duty shirt on for it to still be on his back after much shirt pulling that had not been punished.
Chesterfield retreated and battled hard to hold back Doncaster pressure, which was ramped up by continual substitutions by the visitors using all their reserves to add fresh legs.
With extra time becoming Rovers scored in the 89th minute when Jack Senior found himself alone on the left and drilled his shot past Hemming’s right hand.
The fourth official held up 8 minutes and Chesterfield responded but despite even the keeper going up for corners they could not get an equaliser.
The Doncaster team ran to their fans as the whistle blew and many home fans clapped their team off but also remained to vent their ire at the three officials.
There are no chips at Chesterfield although the food offering and service is good. I chose a hot dog and wished I hadn’t. The roll was dry and crispy on the outside and the sausage, although thick and large was too spicy for me.
payonthegate 